Student Site Engineer Review

I had an amazing first summer placement with Laing Orourke. I had never worked on a construction site before so I learned so much during my time spent there. My colleagues were all friendly and helpful and there were other students there who made the experience even better.

I felt valued and respected by my colleagues who engaged in conversation about their work when asked question. They were very helpful in giving advice about the job at hand and about my career in general. When I was helpful, I was thanked for my contributions

I was paired with a site engineer who I shadowed during my placement. She was great at answering my questions and took the time to help me in developing my own skills in surveying. There were a few other staff who I worked closely with, was given tasks and learned from their expertise.

During a 9-10hr day I was kept busy with a range of tasks. Some days were busier than others and in quieter times I took that time to read, learn and record what I had done during my placement. Sometimes the work was unpredictable and I always asked if there were jobs to be done and I was given direction of what to do.

As an inexperienced engineer, just finished 1st year of university I was understandably not given a great amount of responsibility initially however over time as my confidence grew I was able to contribute more. Marking out points and setting out for concrete pours, filling in inspection checklists and doing calculations.

These skills will develop over the course of my degree. I have learn an invaluable amount about what its like to work in the industry and I now have an understanding of what it means to be a civil engineer; something I didn't really know before studying civil engineering!

The atmosphere was friendly and there was a sense of there being a team within the office. There was very little friction aparant between colleagues and the majority all took pride in their work and got on well with others

The placement was set up well as I was assigned someone who would mentor me and this made a huge difference because I had that person to shadow and ask for help. There was a student placement program which was well organised and allowed me to meet other people working for laing orourke as well as develop my presentation skills during a trip to Dartford, near London which was a great opportunity.

The company had a checklist of competencies which helped to track my progress and allow me to consider ways of gaining more skills. The colleagues were happy to spend some time in training me, teaching me about the company and the industry I felt as though the company had invested in me when the students were sent to London to meet other people in the business and work on developing our skills

very appealing and I am looking forward to hopefully working with them in the future

There was a very good social scene with other students which was very helpful

In the heart of Edinburgh it is expensive, I lived at home near Glasgow and commuted in

The nightlife was good, on Fridays after work we socialised at a local pub before heading home and on one evening I went to the Fringe festival with colleagues who I hadn't got to know before

There were not many opportunities as everyone worked long shifts and commuted home